Pink and Yellow Season Kick Off

Around this time of year I go into my own private Pink and Yellow Season. For me, it's usually about bright sunny days, bright flavors, shiny newness and fun just for me. Not quite feeling it yet this year, but I have about some time to get into it.

One of the things I like to do during this season is experiment with lemon dishes in the kitchen. I love that burst of flavor lemon gives you. Most years I just get a box or two of lemon cake mix and a couple of tubs of lemon frosting and experiment with what to do with that (use lemon juice or limoncello instead of water, toss in yogurt or white chocolate chips or coconut, etc.). It may or may not turn out anything edible, but that's not the point. The point is to have fun and experiment. (I think I need a chemistry set.)

This year, I decided to up the ante a little and I kicked off the Pink and Yellow Season by baking a couple of different types of lemon fudge.

The recipe for the first batch I got here. It's the easier of the two I found - no need to check for candy status. It uses marshmallow cream, condensed milk, white chocolate chips and lemon extract. I grated some lemon rind and tossed that in, too. And had some of it set in a mini-tart pan, which was fun, but not as cute as I was imagining.
Though it doesn't taste like good fudge, it is "melt in your mouth". Very rich. It's something you can whip up quickly and take somewhere if you need to. And it does taste good, but not quite what I imagined it should be.

I had some chocolate and butterscotch chips, enough to make a half a batch with what was left of the condensed milk and marshmallow cream. I've packaged it and put it in the freezer to save for bad days. Again, it was good, but it didn't have that burst of flavor on the tongue that good candy/fudge rewards you with.


The second recipe I got from here. It was more complicated but it does reward you with that burst of flavor you're expecting.  Years ago a friend of mine sent me her grandmother's praline recipe. And I remember her telling me that once I started making the pralines to be prepared to keep at it until it was finished. Making this fudge is a bit like that. Once you begin you can't stop until you've poured the fudge into the containers. So have everything set out, pans prepped, ingredients measured out before you begin and be prepared to do a lot of stirring.

For me, it took longer for it to reach boiling than the recipe said it would. And also took longer for evaporated milk and sugar to reach 234 degrees than the 5-6 minutes the recipe said it would. There was at least one time when the milk and sugar mixture grew up on me and made a little mess around the burner, but otherwise, it was just a long haul of stirring.

A couple of tiny things I did differently is that I was a titch short on the lemon extract so added a squeeze or so of lemon juice. Not too much. I used white chocolate chips and not a white chocolate bar broken up. Also, I used foil and butter for the pans instead of parchment. I can never get parchment to fold and stay put. But I think next time I'd use parchment. I also added the optional yellow food coloring.

Again, this second recipe takes more work, but you are rewarded with that candy flavor that you can't mistake. I tasted a couple of broken pieces as I was packing the fudge away for later and I felt like I'd gone to heaven and back.


I have a few more lemony recipes planned throughout the Pink and Yellow Season. I'll report back and let you know how they turned out.